Something got into the fish in Little River yesterday morning, "and raised
the mischief" with them. They came to the top of the water, hundreds of
them, and acted as if they were in the last stages of a premature decline.
"Want of breath," such as boys say dogs die with, seemed to be the
trouble. Never were the finny tribe so anxious to get out of water, and
they poked their noses above the surface in the most beseeching way
possible. The appeal was too strong to resist, and hundreds of men, women,
and children, with sudden inventions for furnishing relief, such as
baskets, coal-sifters, bags, etc., fixed at the end of long poles, lined
the banks of the stream, and such luck in fishing has not been witnessed
in this vicinity for years. What produced all this commotion among the
inhabitants of the deep, is only conjectured. Some say a beer brewery,
whose flavoring extracts (one of which is said to be cockle), after being
relieved of their choicest qualities, are sent through a sewer into the
stream, was the fountain head from which the trouble flowed. But beer
drinkers look upon the idea as preposterous; they say it casts an
unwarranted reflection upon a most respectable article of beverage.
Perhaps so. Another claim is that somebody had thrown acid into the water;
and another that decayed vegetable matter, occasioned by the long drought,
has been liberally distributed in the river, from small streams which the
late rains have swollen. We express no opinion about it, for, as the
sensationist would say in speaking of something on a grander scale, "The
whole matter is wrapped in the most profound mystery." It is a sure
thing, however, that the fish had a high old time, and were considerably
puzzled themselves to know what was up. Wouldn't advise anybody to invest
in dressed suckers for a day or two, at least.
Since writing the above, Dr. Crabtre, coroner, informs us that he has
secured several of the fish, and finds, by analyzing, that they were
poisoned by sulphuric acid. The evidence of it is very strong in the fish
that died before being taken from the water. Acid is used at Sharp's
factory, and is thrown in considerable quantities into the river. It will
not be very healthy business to eat fish which have been thus "tampered
with," and, as we are informed that many were dressed yesterday and sent
into market, we caution the public against buying "small fry," unless they
know where they were caught.